President Donald Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in Florida on July 1, 2025 (DHS photo by Tia Dufour/Flickr)
On July 4, 1776, the United States officially declared itself free of British rule when the Declaration of Independence was signed at Philadelphia's Independence Hall (which was called the Pennsylvania State House at the time). And in 1789, George Washington was sworn in as the first U.S. president.
July 4, 2025 marks the United States' 249th anniversary as a democracy. But in an op-ed published by The Guardian, three legal scholars — Song Richardson, Susan Sturm and ACLU President Deborah N. Archer — argue that "the 4th of July celebration of freedom rings hollow this year" in light of President Donald Trump's many attacks on civil liberties.
"The contradictions built into a national commemoration of our triumph over autocracy feel newly personal and perilous — especially to those who have, until now, felt relatively secure in the federal government's commitment to democracy and the rule of law," the attorneys explain. "But the contradiction is far from new. Black, brown and indigenous communities have always seen the gap between the ideals of American democracy and the lived reality of exclusion. Frederick Douglass' 1852 address, 'What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?,' demanded that Americans confront the hypocrisy of celebrating liberty while millions were enslaved."
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Richardson, Sturm and Archer add, "Today, those contradictions persist in enduring racial disparities and policies that perpetuate segregation, second-class citizenship and selective protection of rights."
The legal scholars warn that during Trump's second presidency, the U.S. is suffering a "dangerous backlash" from a civil liberties standpoint.
"Our federal government is increasingly hostile to even the mention of race and racism, actively dismantling protections that were hard-won over decades," according to Richardson, Sturm and Archer. "Each day brings new signs of an anti-democratic campaign — eroding civil rights, stoking racial division and weaponizing law to silence dissent and disempower communities. This inversion of democracy — where power flows upward, not outward — is bold and widespread. The chilling effects of federal overreach touch everyone."
The attorneys add, "People of all races, backgrounds and positions have lost jobs, funding, and trust in institutions once seen as pillars of democracy. The backlash has laid bare a truth long familiar to marginalized communities: that America's stated ideals often fail to match its realities…. As the attacks grow louder, more coordinated, more entrenched, we must be even more committed to acting where we are — with whoever we can — to not only defend the fragile, unfinished project of building a multiracial democracy, but to take the time to dream about what our more robust democracy would look like, and then to take the next best step in that direction, undeterred by the current moment."
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Read the full Guardian op-ed at this link.